Trickle Charger

[SimonJ1966]

Hi
After my flat battery problems last week, I was going to put a solar powered trickle charger into the cerb.
Can someone let me know if the cigarette lighter is live when the engine isn't running (and the alarm set?). I'm going to put the battery back in tomorrow and see if the alarm will stop sounding (!)

Thanks

Simon.

[Tanguero]

It is on mine. However when I tried to do this the resistance of the cig lighter was too high to successfully charge from a 20W solar panel. Even directly to the battery the whole solar charging thing was so marginal that I ended up flogging the panel and getting an Accumate and an outdoor enclosure for it.

[SimonKD]

Tanguero said:

I ended up flogging the panel and getting an Accumate and an outdoor enclosure for it.

Used an Accumate for over five years now, one of the best things I ever bought for the Cerb!

Regards
Simon

[Chewitt]

question - as the negative terminal is such a pain to get at how do you connect the charger?

[Gazzab]

answer - fag lighter.

[Chimpaholic]

SOLAR CHARGERS!

Been there, done that, waisted the money!

COMPLETELY USELESS.

Unless you pay over £100 for a big panel that kicks out some meaningful amps you just wont beat the drain.

I spent a lot of time researching a solution to the TVR parasitic drain & no mains power problem.

The answer is a BatteryBrain or a PriorityStart device.

Read how they work here:

http://www.batterybrain.co.uk/

http://www.noflatbatteries.com/

[ro_butler]

SimonKD said:

Tanguero said:

I ended up flogging the panel and getting an Accumate and an outdoor enclosure for it.

Used an Accumate for over five years now, one of the best things I ever bought for the Cerb!

Regards
Simon

Amen to that!

[SimonKD]

Chewitt said:

question - as the negative terminal is such a pain to get at how do you connect the charger?

You can use the croc clips that come with the Accumate, one on the +ve terminal and one on any good earth, the air con stabbings or air box brackets are ideal.

You can also use the 2-pin plug lead that comes with the Accumate wired permanantly to the battery +ve and any good earth or the battery -ve to make things even easier when plugging charger in and out.

Both ways are simple and ideal.

Regards
Simon

[grovest]

Chimpaholic said:

SOLAR CHARGERS!

Been there, done that, waisted the money!

COMPLETELY USELESS.

Unless you pay over £100 for a big panel that kicks out some meaningful amps you just wont beat the drain.

I spent a lot of time researching a solution to the TVR parasitic drain & no mains power problem.

The answer is a BatteryBrain or a PriorityStart device.

Read how they work here:

http://www.batterybrain.co.uk/

http://www.noflatbatteries.com/

Have you had any problems with the alarm? Am I right in assuming the alarm has an internal battery to cover the eventuality of someone disconnecting the main battery to disable it? So will the alarm not go off at some point when its own internal battery runs flat?

Has anyone on here measured where the current goes when the car is locked and alarmed? Is it all to the alarm system + a piddle to the clock or are there other circuits kept alive?

I'll have to measure this when I get a chance...

[Chimpaholic]

In the end I managed to hook up a mains power supply so I never fitted the PriorityStart.

frenchie TVR has just fitted a battery brain, he demonstrated it to me at the ACE the other day.

He happily disconnected and re-connected his battery using a remote fob & no alarm activation.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/profile.asp?mem...

I am sure he will be happy to give us all his experiences.

I dont think anyone has really got to the bottom of the parasitic drain let alone solved it.

Its a trickle charger needing a mains power point near by, or disconnecting the battery in some way.

They are your only options from what I can see unless you want to re-wire the car?

However I would be very happy if someone proves me wrong on this.

[Tanguero]

If his alarm didn't go off when he disconnected the battery with it armed then the alarm isn't working properly!

Obviously the chances of someone getting in with the battery disconnected are fairly slim, so possibly you don't need to set it if you are going to disconnect.

It must be a royal PITA to have to reset the clock every time.

[mikethebike1127]

I have a battery isolator switch fitted to my one (the big red key type) as I work away from home for a month at a time. Works a treat - come home after a month, turn the isolator swith on, indicators flash 3 times to tell me she is locked & alarmed, push the fob button once, one flash of the indicators and we're ready to go.

However, I do leave the bonnet catches undone.....just in case a Cerbera gremlin sneaks into the garage whilst I'm away!!!!